He looked down at her. “You haven’t told me yet why you and Chewie left Kashyyyk and came back here.”
Leia squeezed thumb and forefinger together. Eventually, she knew, she would have to tell Han about the deal she’d made with the Noghri commando Khabarakh. But walking down a public corridor of the Imperial Palace wasn’t the place for that kind of discussion. “There didn’t seem any point in staying,” she told him. “There was another attack—”
“There what?”
“Relax, we fought it off,” she soothed him. “And I’ve made arrangements that should keep me safe, at least for the next couple of weeks. I’ll tell you about it later, when we’re someplace more secure.”
She could feel his eyes boring into her; could sense the suspicion in his mind that there was something she wasn’t telling him. But he recognized as well as she did the danger of speaking secrets out in the open. “All right,” he muttered. “I just hope you know what you’re doing.”
Leia shivered, focusing on the sense of the twins she carried within her. So potentially strong in the Force … and yet so utterly helpless. “So do I,” she whispered.
CHAPTER
4
JORUS C’BAOTH. HUMAN. BORN IN REITHCAS,
ON BORTRAS. ON 4\3\112, PRE-EMPIRE DATE.
Luke made a face as he watched the words scroll up the Old Senate Library computer screen. What was it about new regimes, he wondered, that one of their first official acts always seemed to be the creation of a new dating system, which they then went and applied to all existing historical records? The Galactic Empire had done that, as had the Old Republic before it. He could only hope that the New Republic wouldn’t follow suit. History was hard enough to keep track of as it was.
ATTENDED MIRNIC UNIVERSITY 6\4\95 TO 4\32\90 PE. ATTENDED JEDI TRAINING CENTER ON KAMPARAS 2\15\90 TO 8\33\88 PE. PRIVATE JEDI TRAINING BEGUN 9\88 PE; INSTRUCTOR UNKNOWN. GRANTED TITLE OF JEDI KNIGHT 3\6\86 PE. OFFICIALLY ASSUMED TITLE OF JEDI MASTER 4\3\74 PE. SUMMARY ENDS. FURTHER DETAILS OF SCHOOLING AND TRAINING?
“No,” Luke said, frowning. C’baoth had assumed the title of Jedi Master? He’d always been under the impression that that title, like the rank of Jedi Knight itself, was something that was granted by the rest of the Jedi community and not simply self-proclaimed. “Give me the highlights of his record as a Jedi.”
MEMBER OF ANDO DEMILITARIZATION OBSERVATION GROUP 8\82 TO 7\81 PE. MEMBER OF SENATE INTERSPECIES ADVISORY COMMITTEE 9\81 TO 6\79 PE. PERSONAL JEDI ADVISER TO SENATOR PALPATINE 6\79 TO 5\77—
“Stop,” Luke ordered, a sudden shiver running up his back. Jedi adviser to Senator Palpatine? “Detail C’baoth’s service to Senator Palpatine.”
The computer seemed to consider the request, UNAVAILABLE, the answer came at last.
“Unavailable, or just classified?” Luke countered.
UNAVAILABLE, the computer repeated.
Luke grimaced. But there was little he could do about it for the moment. “Continue.”
MEMBER OF JEDI FORCE ASSEMBLED TO OPPOSE THE DARK JEDI INSURRECTION ON BPFASSH 7\77 TO 1\74 PE. ASSISTED IN RESOLVING ALDERAAN ASCENDANCY CONTENTION 11\70 PE. ASSISTED JEDI MASTER TRA ‘S M’ INS IN MEDIATION OF DUINUOGWUIN-GOTAL CONFLICT 1\68 TO 4\66 PE. NAMED AMBASSADOR AT LARGE TO XAPPYH SECTOR 8\21\62 PE BY SENATE. HIGHLY INSTRUMENTAL IN CONVINCING SENATE TO AUTHORIZE AND FUND OUTBOUND FLIGHT PROJECT. ONE OF SIX JEDI MASTERS ATTACHED TO PROJECT 7\7\65 PE. NO RECORD EXISTS AFTER PROJECT DEPARTURE FROM YAGA MINOR, 4\1\64. HIGHLIGHTS SUMMARY ENDS. FURTHER INFORMATION?
Luke leaned back in his chair, gazing at the display and chewing at the inside of his cheek. So not only had C’baoth once been an adviser to the man who would someday declare himself Emperor, but he’d also been part of the attack against those Dark Jedi from the Sluis sector that Leia had told him about. One of whom had survived long enough to face Master Yoda on Dagobah …
There was a soft footstep behind him. “Commander?”
“Hello, Winter,” Luke said without turning. “Looking for me?”
“Yes,” Winter said, coming up to stand beside him. “Princess Leia would like to see you whenever you’re finished here.” She nodded at the display, running a hand through her silky white hair as she did so. “More Jedi research?”
“Sort of,” Luke told her, sliding a data card into the terminal’s slot. “Computer: copy complete record of Jedi Master Jorus C’baoth.”
“Jorus C’baoth,” Winter repeated thoughtfully. “Wasn’t he involved in the big ascendancy flap on Alderaan?”
“That’s what the record says,” Luke nodded. “You know anything about that?”
“No more than any other Alderaanian,” Winter said. Even with her rigid control some of the pain leaked through to her voice, and Luke found himself wincing in sympathy with it. For Leia, he knew, the destruction of Alderaan and the loss of her family was a heartrending but slowly fading ache in the back corners of her mind. For Winter, with her perfect and indelible memory, the pain would probably go on forever. “The question was whether the line of ascent to Viceroy should go to Bail Organa’s father or one of the other family lines,” Winter continued. “After the third voting deadlock they appealed to the Senate to mediate the issue. C’baoth was one of the delegation they sent, which took less than a month to decide that the Organas had the proper claim.”
“Did you ever see any pictures of C’baoth?” Luke asked.
Winter considered. “There was a group holo in the archives that showed the entire mediation team,” she said after a moment. “C’baoth was—oh, about average height and build, I suppose. Fairly muscular, too, which I remember thinking seemed rather odd for a Jedi.” She looked at Luke, coloring slightly. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean that to sound derogatory.”
“No problem,” Luke assured her. It was a common misconception, he’d discovered: with mastery over the Force, people just assumed there was no reason for a Jedi to cultivate physical strength. It had taken Luke himself several years to truly appreciate the subtle ways in which control of the body was linked to control of the mind. “What else?”
“He had graying hair and a short, neatly trimmed beard,” Winter said. “He was wearing the same brown robe and white undertunic that a lot of Jedi seemed to favor. Other than that, there wasn’t anything particularly notable about him.”
Luke rubbed his chin. “How old did he look?”
“Oh … I’d say somewhere around forty,” Winter said. “Plus or minus five years, perhaps. Age is always hard to ascertain from a picture.”
“That would fit with the record here,” Luke agreed, retrieving the data card from the slot. But if the record was right … “You said Leia wanted to see me?” he asked, standing up.
“If it’s convenient,” Winter nodded. “She’s in her office.”
“Okay. Let’s go.”
They left the library and started down the cross corridor linking the research areas with the Council and Assemblage chambers. “You know anything about the planet Bortras?” he asked Winter as they walked. “Specifically, anything about how long its people live?”
She thought a moment. “I’ve never read anything that mentioned it one way or another. Why?”
Luke hesitated; but however the Imperials were getting information out of the New Republic’s inner sanctum, Winter was certainly far above suspicion. “The problem is that if this alleged Jedi out on Jomark really is Jorus C’baoth, he has to be over a hundred by now. I know there are some species that live longer than that, but he’s supposed to be human.”
Winter shrugged. “There are always exceptions to a race’s normal life span,” she pointed out. “And a Jedi, in particular, might have techniques that would help extend that span.”
Luke thought about that. It was possible, he knew. Yoda had certainly had a long life—a good nine hundred years—and as a general rule, smaller species usually had shorter life spans than larger ones. But usually didn’t mean always; and after many hours of records searches, Luke still hadn’t figured out just what species Yoda had belonged to. Perhaps a better approach might be to try to find out how long the Emperor had lived.
“So you think Jorus C’baoth is alive?” Winter asked into his thoughts.
Luke glanced around. They’d reached the Grand Corridor now, which because of its location was usually fairly brimming with beings of all sorts. But today it was nearly empty, with only a few humans and others standing around in little conversation groups of their own, all of them too far away to eavesdrop. “I had a brief mental contact with another Jedi while I was on Nkllon,” he said, lowering his voice. “Afterward, Leia told me that there were rumors C’baoth had been seen on Jomark. I don’t know what other conclusion to come to.”
Winter was silent. “Any comments?” Luke prompted her.